Reader “Bob” found out that a recently deceased relative was one of the many priests convicted of child molestation in the 1990s. He writes (emphases mine): When I grew up, Father Tom was always one of those distant relatives who was mentioned but whom I had never met. I knew he was a priest who lived in some sort of facility — I always thought it was assisted living, since he was elderly. Father Tom passed away a week or… Read more
Yesterday, a gunman went into an LA Fitness gym in Pittsburgh and ended up killing three women and injuring many more before turning the gun on himself. The man had a grudge against women. He was lonely. He was likely crazy. Was there anything more to it? It turns out George Sodini left us with many blog postings. I’m not blaming Christianity for the shooting, so bear with me for a moment. But read what he wrote (emphases his): December… Read more
I was about to go run errands but stupidly decided to check my feed reader first. I came across this video from World Net Daily. Now, I’m too angry to go to Target. There’s something wrong on the Internets and it must be fixed. Here’s Molotov Mitchell (click on the video that says “The faith of the atheist”: How many mistakes can we find… Obama did indeed tone down the National Day of Prayer. He didn’t stop anyone from celebrating… Read more
The other day, I wrote this: Leo Igwe is a Humanist and Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement. He recently returned from a conference run by the British Humanist Association, having also given an interview about superstition in his country to the BBC. He was ready to attend a conference he helped organize on “Child Rights and Witchcraft.” The conference took place in Calabar, in southeastern Nigeria. It’s an important topic because accusations of witchcraft could (and have) lead… Read more
The Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers (IAF) and the United Coalition of Reason have put the following ad on the sides of 20 buses in Des Moines: Obviously, it’s reaching out to current atheists rather than tearing down religion. I-A-F spokesperson Lily Kryuchkov says the purpose of the ads is to simply raise awareness of the group’s existence. “A lot of times nonreligious people feel isolated and with all the negative attitudes toward atheism, they don’t have anybody to talk to,”… Read more
Just like Sabio, this has happened to me before: a close friend is telling me how she just broke up with a boyfriend, or how she lost her job, or something else really depressing. At some point, she utters: “This is all happening for a reason.” Or: “It’s part of God’s plan.” The polite thing to do is smile and nod. But I can’t bring myself to do that. I also don’t want to say what I’m thinking (“No it’s… Read more
Here’s the gist of the conversation I had the other day with a Catholic over this story and the headline “Publisher, editor out over wafer story”: Catholic: I’m offended by this headline. It’s disrespectful to Catholics. Me: No, it’s not. It’s accurate. It’s a wafer. Catholic: No, it’s the Consecrated Host. Me: To you, maybe. But to the rest of us, it’s a wafer. Catholic: Would you call a yarmulke a beanie? Me: Of course not. A yarmulke is actually… Read more
Reader “Bob” saw the article by Ian Bell that suggested some Camp Quest attendees are going there against their will. In an email, “Bob” writes: I work for a Christian Bible camp which also serves as a weekend retreat for groups out of season. I’ve worked there for two years. They are probably the only people in my life that are not aware that I am an atheist. Regarding your Camp Quest blog, I would like to account for the… Read more
Reader Ryan made a very nifty-looking presentation about the Pledge of Allegiance. I’ll admit I did not know about the pre-hand-on-heart gesture used during recitations of the Pledge… Ryan also explains some of the Constitutional issues surrounding it. It’s a quick, helpful history and a great reference. Read more
The Big Questions is a BBC show that tackles you-know-what. A recent episode asked: Is atheism an intolerant belief? Forget the immediate answer (“No”) for just a moment and watch how the dialogue happens: Reader Tony summarized the entire video this way: Although some of the comments by the religious participants essentially amount to “You think that you are right and we are wrong which is very offensive to me because WE are right and YOU are wrong!” it’s quite… Read more
